March 9, 2025: Temptations

Temptations

The gospel today is filled with symbols. For example, the desert. The desert in the scriptures is often a metaphor for a mythical place where one is spiritually tested (or challenged) both externally and internally. What place tests your spirituality? The gym? The bar? The math classroom? The casino? The tax preparer’s office?

There’s also the number 40. Forty is a holy number throughout the Bible—40 days on the ark with Noah, Moses' 40 days on Mount Sinai waiting to receive the Ten Commandments, the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years, and Jonah (of whale fame) gave the Ninevites 40 days to repent before God would destroy the city. Jesus also spent 40 days in the desert. And now we have 40 days of Lent (actually, it’s more than that because Sundays aren’t counted. So, back in the old days, people paused their giving-up practices on Sundays, but don’t go there…it includes Sunday!).

The first and third temptations are preceded by the same phrase: “If you are the Son of God.” The primary temptation we all face is to doubt that we too are God’s sons or daughters. We can all think of a thousand reasons to condemn ourselves. The main temptation we have to overcome is doubting our identity. Once we doubt that, it’s all downhill from there. What made Jesus unique is that, unlike the rest of us, He never doubted He was God’s beloved Son.

The first temptation is ego. The tempter says, “Tell these stones to become bread.” We could say that for us, it’s a temptation to be spectacular, to be special, to be important, or to be showy. We all want that, especially young people (or when we were young). We all want to stand out. We want people to notice us. We want to be something special and do something special, but Jesus refuses to play the game.

The second temptation is control. The devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms in a single instance and offers to give Jesus all power and glory, that is, to control everything. That is so tempting for us. We want this person to act this way. We want this situation to turn out that way. And most of the time, we want to control God. But here’s the thing… God is always wanting to surprise us, wanting to expose us to mystery. And most of the time, we want to always know what’s going on, how things will work. So, with that “thing” you are currently troubled with, instead of trying to control God and telling God what you want done, say, “God, what do you want for me?”

With the third temptation: “The devil took him to Jerusalem and made him stand on the very parapet (or top) of the Temple and told Jesus to throw himself down.” This temptation is to misuse religion by playing games with God. You know, begging God to say, “If you do this, I’ll do that.” I remember, as a kid, being tempted to pray to God with, “If you let me have a great basketball season, I’ll become a priest.” But then I thought, “Forget it, that’s too drastic.” And I became a priest anyway, and I had a lousy basketball season.

Well, Jesus says, “I’m not going to play the religious game.” You see, religion is not a bartering system. Sometimes people feel that because they go to church or because they go to Mass, then God should do what we want. They feel entitled. This is not a transactional system; rather, it’s a transformational system. We are invited to be transformed. Pope Francis said, “Lent is a time to open our hearts to the mercy of God and to transform our lives.” Think about it: we hear the word of God, we receive God in the Eucharist, we see God in the community… so that we can change. Change toward loving difficult people, change to let go of the fears we have, and change to become kinder and more accepting of others. And this transformation is always for the sake of others, not just for what I can get out of it.

As we dive into this Lenten season, think about the temptations you face—whether with ego, control, or misusing religion. But here’s the good news: you’re not doing this alone! Like Jesus, the Holy Spirit is with you, guiding you through the wilderness, not to defeat us, but to shape you into the awesome person God made you to be.